Washington (CNN) - President Obama has decided to nominate Sen. John Kerry to be the next secretary of state and could make a formal announcement as early as next week, a Democrat who spoke to Kerry told CNN Saturday.

The expected nomination follows U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's decision to withdraw her name from consideration for the post. She dropped out of the running Thursday after weeks of criticism from Republicans about statements she made about the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner spoke on the phone Wednesday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the call.

The conversation, the first between the two in a week, did not result in a breakthrough in the ongoing "fiscal cliff" stalemate.

According to one source familiar with the conversation, Republicans have not agreed to move on tax rate increases for the top 2% of income earners, a point the Obama administration considers non-negotiable.

Washington (CNN) – They were in the same building Monday night, but President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner did not see or speak to each other, according to multiple Democratic and Republican sources.

The president hosted members of Congress for the black tie Congressional Ball at the White House amid the ongoing fiscal cliff standoff and posed with lawmakers in a receiving line, as is typical for these events.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Don't expect negotiations for a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" to heat up this week.

Senior administration officials said the offer House Speaker John Boehner submitted to the White House on Monday wasn't serious enough to merit a counter-proposal from the administration. So the president's team plans to wait for the GOP to come around on the idea of raising tax rates or let the nation go over the fiscal cliff.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The White House and Congressional Republicans are squaring off in negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff, with each side accusing the other of blocking a deal.

For the first time we're getting a look at what the White House is offering to break the stalemate. Republicans consider it an overreach. Democrats make clear it's a first offer, to get specific on the numbers.FULL POST

Jack Lew, President Barack Obama's current chief of staff, is the frontrunner for the top position at Treasury, according to senior Democratic sources. The budget expert has a 30-plus year record in government. He formerly served under Obama as director of the Office of Management and Budget, deputy secretary of state for management and resources for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and as a special assistant to former President Bill Clinton. He was a longtime aide to former Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill.FULL POST

(CNN) - Three days after being re-elected, President Barack Obama will deliver a statement on the economy Friday, two administration officials said Thursday.

The 1:05 p.m. ET statement in the East Room will serve as an opportunity to address some of the big issues that Washington will tackle in the next few months - including staving off the so-called fiscal cliff - and to outline his priorities moving forward.

An official schedule released by the White House Thursday said the statement would address "the action we need to take to keep our economy growing and reduce our deficit."

On the eve of the president's last campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa Monday, Obama's campaign staff watched the event from Houlihans, the same restaurant at which they convened before his final event in 2008. They even ate the same meal: chicken wings.

Watch CNN's comprehensive coverage of Election Day starting at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday on CNN TV and follow online at CNN.com or via CNN's apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. For up-to-the-minute results, go to cnn.com/results and for our real-time Election Day live blog, check out cnn.com/conversation. Need other reasons to watch Election Day coverage on CNN's platforms? Click here for our list.FULL POST

If you think that sounds unusually cutting, go a few hundred miles across the country to a Romney rally where Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, told his home state crowd he wonders of the president, "How much do you really love the country you are in charge of?"

(CNN) - Expect President Barack Obama to use the final presidential debate Monday night to question how Governor Mitt Romney would handle foreign policy differently than his administration has and prod him over whether he would keep the country in "endless" war.

According to Obama aides, look for the president to press Romney to explain whether he'd quickly enter into a military conflict with Iran, invest U.S. resources in Syria and keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan indefinitely.

Watch CNN's coverage of Monday's third and final presidential debate starting at 7 p.m. ET on CNN TV, CNN.com and via CNN's apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Web users can become video editors with our clip-and-share feature that allows them to share favorite debate moments on Facebook and Twitter. Join the discussion on our live blog, and get comprehensive coverage on our debates page. Need other reasons to watch the debate on CNN's platforms? Click here for our list. FULL POST